Snow Day (Pizza)

Hey, guess what.  There was a little bit of snow last night.  Just a tad.  Like, this much:

Layla was in frolicking heaven.  She tries to run through it, but it's a little too deep for that, so she ends up with this bunny hop/kangaroo kind of move.  It's hysterical!  There's nothing quite like a happy, carefree dog to make you feel like all is right in the world.

Single Digits (Caribbean Banana Muffins)

It's 10 am and it's officially the end of my third week for this last quarter of school.  That means that in 8 more weeks, I'll be a nurse.  Well, I'll at least be done with nursing school and getting ready to pass the boards.  But I'll be done with school, which is really what I'm looking forward to as I stare at the mound of work and textbooks on my desk.

Eight weeks!  When we all went to school on the very first day, I started a weekly countdown.  We went from 52 weeks to 8 weeks in the blink of an eye.  It's an ever widening ray of hope in this cold and dreary winter.

The Challenge (Lamingtons)

I'm slightly competitive.  Just a little.  Growing up I was never good at sports.  Even grown up, now, I'm not good at physical activity.  Even walking at a slow pace on a flat surface requires the kind of visual-spacial-hand-foot-eye coordination I barely possess.  This made it a little difficult to find a good, un-awkward outlet for my competitive streak.  "I read more books than you!  I finished my homework first!  I can name the entire prime time line up of Nick at Nite in 0.43 seconds!"  These things do not make you cool.

I'm older and wiser now.  Still not much cooler.  

Tate's Bake Shop (Apple Cranberry Crisp)

Recently, I won a give away from The Cilantropist (check her out - beautiful pictures and awesomely yummy food).  It may have been the first time in my life that I've ever won anything, besides a Lisa Frank pencil and paper set in a raffle in fourth grade.  That's a pretty long run, over 17 years.  Hm.  There must have been a $1 scratch off lottery ticket in between there somewhere. Hmmmm...

Anyway, this giveaway was better than a Lisa Frank pencil and paper set AND a scratch off lottery ticket combined.  This giveaway was from Tate's Bake Shop.  A few months ago, I noticed them popping up all over the Internet.  Tate's Bake Shop is a little bakery in the Hamptons that became famous at the beginning for their chocolate chip cookies.  Now they make all kinds of baked goodness, and can ship these treats anywhere.  The gift set included three kinds of cookies - chocolate chip, macadamia white chocolate chip,oatmeal raisin - and a cookbook.  I wish I had some pictures of the cookies, but I don't.

Starting the year off right (Cinnamon Yum Yums)

OK, folks.  Here it is.

The moment you've all been waiting for.

Here is my secret to Life, the Universe and Everything.